Blood Ceremony

By now, you all know the rules, but here’s a one phrase recap: New studio records only. Also, like a classic Spinal Tap joke, I went to eleven this year. What can I say, I couldn’t narrow it down farther from that. It happens. Let’s get started.

The past five years have seen the gears of the machine behind Blood Ceremony turning with increasing velocity. Born in 2006 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the band released a self-titled record in 2008 that was re-released in a deft move by Metal Blade Records in 2011. Credited as being one of the most original bands in all of Toronto, Blood Ceremony returns this year with their third effort, the excellent and innovative "The Eldritch Dark." Here to explain the album, how it came to be and how the band started is bassist Lucas Gadke. Oh, and he drops some wicked classic horror titles, too.

During this recent revival of traditional metal, it has become commonplace that any band with blues roots and an analog mentality gets slapped with the label “sounds like Black Sabbath.” While that speaks volumes about the enormity of Black Sabbath’s legacy, it’s also an easy, marketable out for